November 24, 2008

What harm does superstition do? What harm in believing infables, in legends?

To believe in signs and wonders, in amulets, charms andmiracles, in gods and devils, in heavens and hells, makes the brainan insane ward, the world a madhouse, takes all certainty from themind, makes experience a snare, destroys the kinship of effect andcause — the unity of nature — and makes man a trembling serf andslave. With this belief a knowledge of nature sheds no light uponthe path to be pursued. Nature becomes a puppet of the unseenpowers. The fairy, called the supernatural, touches with her wanda fact, it disappears. Causes are barren of effects, and effectsare independent of all natural causes. Caprice is king. Thefoundation is gone. The great dome rests on air. There is noconstancy in qualities, relations or results. Reason abdicates andsuperstition wears her crown.

November 10, 2008

With 71 days left in office, President Bush is less popular than President Nixon was at the time of his resignation, according to data released Monday by CNN and Opinion Research Corporation.

The new poll, taken Thursday through Sunday, showed an approval rating of 24 percent and a disapproval rating of 76 percent.

CNN released a chart showing presidential "disapproval" ratings in CNN or Gallup polls for each president dating back to Harry Truman. This list shows the percentage of Americans who disapproved of the way each president was handling his job.

November 06, 2008

Washington, DC – Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) is the only member of Congress who is on record as not holding a god-belief, the first such Congress member in history. Rep. Stark publicly acknowledged his nontheism in 2007 following a nationwide search conducted by the Secular Coalition for America. In an election year when national candidates' religious beliefs were given unprecedented importance, the Coalition sees Stark's re-election, with 76% of the votes in his district, as a sign that religious tests for candidates may become less common.

Polls have shown that Americans without a god-belief are, as a group, more distrusted than any other minority in America, and that most Americans would not vote for an atheist for president even if he or she were the most qualified for the office. At the same time, however, according to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, 2008 saw a "small but significant" increase in the number of Americans who say they are "uncomfortable when they hear politicians talk about how religious they are."

"This year, we saw an incumbent U.S. Senator not only defeated but roundly criticized after trying to paint her opponent as godless; and now we see an openly godless member of the House handily re-elected," said Herb Silverman, president of the Secular Coalition for America. "This looks to us like progress, and we praise Rep. Stark for his courage and leadership."

Surveys vary as to the number of atheists, humanists, freethinkers and other nontheists in the U.S., with about 16% (over 50 million people) a reasonable estimate, making this a larger group than Jews, Presbyterians, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and Roman and Greek Orthodox combined. "If the number of nontheists in Congress reflected their numbers in the larger population," observed Lori Lipman Brown, director of the Secular Coalition, "there would be 86 nontheistic Congress members instead of one."

There are good songs, bad songs, ugly songs, strange songs....But this is most likely the most beautiful song ever.

From Wikipedia.....

The lyrics were written by David Byrne, and the music was written by Byrne and the other members of the band, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison. In the "Self Interview" on the DVD of the concert film Stop Making Sense, Byrne admits that it is a love song, a topic he tends to avoid because it is "kinda big". Throughout the Stop Making Sense version, Byrne and his bandmates perform by a standard lamp, while close-up images of various body parts are projected onto a screen behind them. When the song reaches a bridge, the musicians step back and Byrne dances with the lamp, a reference to Fred Astaire's similar dance with a coat-rack in Royal Wedding.

This Must Be The PlaceHome is where I want to bePick me up and turn me roundI feel numb - burn with a weak heart(So I) guess I must be having funThe less we say about it the betterMake it up as we go alongFeet on the groundHead in the sky

Home - is where I want to beBut I guess I'm already thereI come home - -she lifted up her wingsGuess that this must be the placeI can't tell one from anotherDid I find you, or you find me?There was a timeBefore we were bornIf someone asks, this where I'll be . . . where I'll be

We drift in and outSing into my mouthOut of all tose kinds of peopleYou got a face with a viewI'm just an animal looking for a homeShare the same space for a minute or twoAnd you love me till my heart stopsLove me till I'm deadEyes that light up, eyes look through youCover up the blank spotsHit me on the head Ah ooh